Offensively, with both Gasol and Howard on the floor, the Lakers have scored at a rate that would rank 12th in the league. With only one of the two on the floor, they’ve scored at a rate that would rank second.

Defensively, with both Gasol and Howard in the game, the Lakers are defending at a rate that would rank 19th in the league. With only one of the two in the game, they’re defending at a rate that would rank ninth.

Overall, with Gasol and Howard on the floor together, the Lakers have the point differential of a 37-win team. With only one of the two on the floor, they have a point differential of a 61-win team.

The question, of course, is why the Lakers can’t play well with two of the best big men in the league on the floor together. And it’s hard not to point at the coach, because things were OK before D’Antoni took over.

Lakers efficiency with Gasol and Howard on the floor together

Coach

GP

MIN

OffRtg

DefRtg

NetRtg

+/-

Brown

5

135

110.8

95.4

+15.5

+41

Bickerstaff

5

130

105.4

100.8

+4.6

+6

D’Antoni

18

346

98.6

107.7

-9.1

-61

Five games apiece for Mike Brown and Bernie Bickerstaff are small sample sizes, but it’s clear that the Lakers’ early issues weren’t with their bigs. When they got off to a 1-4 start under Brown, the bench was more of a problem.

The big man issues under D’Antoni are on both sides of the ball. Offensively, Gasol is a different player when he’s on the floor with Howard. In those 612 minutes, just 44 percent of his 208 shots have come from the paint. With Howard on the bench, 67 percent of Gasol’s 109 shots have come from the paint.

D’Antoni’s system calls for three shooters around a point guard (who can also shoot) and a pick-and-roll big man. And Gasol can’t space the floor like a true stretch four.

Gasol’s shooting with Howard on and off the floor

Howard on/off

FGM

FGA

FG%

%FGA paint

Howard on floor

83

208

39.9%

44.2%

Howard off floor

54

109

49.5%

67.0%

Here’s the thing: Gasol played 5 1/2 seasons with Andrew Bynum. And with Bynum on the floor, Gasol still took 66 percent of his shots from the paint, because Phil Jackson‘s offense allowed for two post players. The Lakers were a very good offensive team with the two bigs on the floor together.

Defensively, the Lakers have breakdowns all over the place this season, mostly with guards Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant. But there’s no clear explanation why they’re much better with only one of the two bigs on the floor. It may be a foot speed issue, and they may just be able to recover better with a smaller, quicker player at the four. Under Jackson, they were better defensively with Lamar Odom at the four than with Bynum and Gasol out there together.

Still, this is all kind of ridiculous. And it’s all too familiar. On the last team D’Antoni coached, he had two guys making about $40 million combined who couldn’t play well together either.

Under D’Antoni, the New York Knicks were a minus-137 and absolutely awful defensively in 1,506 minutes with Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire on the floor together. The coach’s inability to get his two stars on the same page is a big reason he isn’t in New York anymore. Under Mike Woodson, the Knicks are even (plus-0) in 497 minutes with Anthony and Stoudemire on the floor together.

The Lakers probably aren’t going to be making another coaching change. Instead, Gasol is probably on his way out the door. And we can only wonder what might have been had L.A. hired Jackson when they let go of Brown in November … or if they had just kept Brown.

Kobe Bryant has been named Nba’s all defensive first team 8 times and second team 2 twice so that squashes the many people here claiming he isn’t good defensively. At his age he is among the top players in ppg and one of the best isolation players of all time. if his minutes would be monitored he would likely be capable for another 4 years of dominant play.

Dwight Howard has a career 18 pt 13 rebound average including his poor numbers this year and his rookie year. He was all Nba first team 4 years in a row and defensive player of the year for three straight seasons. He is coming off back surgery and is more capable than what LA fans have seen, but he most definitely need to hire a shooting coach for his free throws. there is no excuse if you make 20 million dollars a year you need to figure it out. Regardless he is still considered one of the most talented and dominant centers in the world. who the h*ll cares if he smiles as long as he turns on his beast mode.

With the proper coach and a few roster moves for youth and supporting players the lakers could be great again.

btw i am not a lakers fan i just think the haters need to do their research before saying whatever non sense comes to mind.

The best thing is to trade Jim Buss and D’Antoni for a flat boll. Doesn’t wane realize, D’antoni is blind. ! He can’t get together 4 stars to play together at the same time!!!!! PLAECE that doesn’t take too much for realize. !!He can’t !! How about Tim Duncan & David Robinson and Ralph Sampson & Hakeem Olajuwon. LAKES neeeeded to get another coach and let the time decide. STOP looking for other solution.

The Lakers just do not know how to play together right now and will take 2 or 3 seasons before they do ANYTHING. At the end of 2009 they had a 65 win season. Probably one of the best since Jordan’s 72 win Bulls. They get rid of Odom, Ariza, Shannon Brown, Sasha Vujacic, Bynum and Fisher over the next year or two in favor of keeping Pau, acquiring Howard, Nash, Artest, Jamison, Jordan Hill, Meeks, Clark, Duhon, Blake after all of that. Not to mention they go from Phil to Mike Brown and now D’Antoni in less than 2 seasons. All these new players with all these new systems to try and make it work? No wonder it is a mess in Laker land right now. Look at the supporting cast from the 65 win season to now. They have a bunch of scrubs, aging stars who are past their prime, and two new coaches in less than 2 years. Dwight needs to be traded, Pau needs to be traded, use amnesty on Artest, and sign some legit players who are worthy of LA and things might start turning better for them.

D’Antoni’s system was neva good for post players. It may have worked in Phoenix for some reason but it didn’t work for the Knicks, nor does it work for the Lakers. I personally neva liked that run-and-gun/small ball/pick-and-roll offense. I ‘ont mind big men takin jump shots every now and then, but they need to be in the post. D’Antoni’s system has changed the game dramatically from the 90’s and before. They dont teach alot of big men to be good post players no more. They’re playin in the European style.

Gasol’s individual numbers might be lower than Howard’s, but he has a higher IQ and is a better basketball players, a better facilitator and makes the game flow easier, plus he makes the rest of the team better. Gasol is more versatile and plays better along Kobe. He also shoots freethrows better. Gasol is a finese player, but brings more to the game than Howard. Lakers have won with Gasol and Bynum, they are not winning with Gasol and Howard..

Remember lakers 2-3 years ago – their defense was good.
Why?
Giants Andrew and Pau in the middle, strong as a bull ron artest, kobe great 1 on 1 defender and D.Fish giving 200%.

Now, Lakers have Howard playing with no energy, pau being not comfortable with his role, older artest, slow as **** bryant and worst defender off all time (not worst but you know what I mean) nash (WHO IS 39 FOR GOD´S SAKE) !!!

John Schuhmann!! I knew that was you that posted before on these blogs.

“Five games apiece are small sample sizes?”

Didn’t you once comment on (I believe on one of Jeff Caplan’s blogs) about small sample sizes and Serge Ibaka already regressing to the mean?????? Which really just means: law of averages. Yes, I’ve taken a course on statistics, too. :-D

Time to break this team up. The La Fakers are done. Their fans are living in the past. Time to rebuild. Trade Gasol and Nash for expiring contracts. They are too old and their careers are over. Trade Howard to the Bobcats or the Wizards for a first rond pick or picks. He will leave this summer anyway so get something for him before its too late. Finally amnesty Bryant. He is way too old and is pitiful now. In fact he was the most selfish and overrated player of all time. He did not just ride Shaq’s coatails in the Phil Jackson era, he rode Shaq’s bridal gown train! Now he is upset that Howard can’t bail him out the way Shaq did or D’Antoni can’t make him look like less of a ballhog then Phil did. He needs a dominate superstar to do all of the hard work so he can take all of the credit. That is the only way he can contribute to a team, before he got old at least. Now his career is over and the Fakers need to cut their losses and just amnesty him. Rebuild with draft pics around Earl Clark and Robert Sacre with D’Antoni as the longterm coach. Stop living in the past. The Fakers are done.

Wow.. those are some good stats for Mike Brown while he was coaching compared to the other coaches. Even though it was only 5 games look att the off and def ratings .. they just needed more time to figure the bench out. Defence wins championships, not offence. Thoughts anybody?

I still believe that a big reason Mike Brown departed … is because Kobe Bryant probably quarreled or argued a lot. Brown may have started coaching harder and Bryant doesn’t want to work hard (despite what commericials may convey). Bryant started to cry and got Mike Brown fired. If kobe isn’t happy, everyone else directly involved with the Laker franchise has to suffer.

Cause since when does an NBA coach get fired after 5 games????????????????????????

how could you even think of getting rid of someone who basically help give the lakers 2 titles and 3 final appearances that makes no sense. I to this day still believe that howard and gasol can co-exist on the same floor the REAL problem is D’toni’s system it didn’t work with amare and melo in ny why the hell would it work in LA with howard and gasol …smh
call me crazy but i think phil would have had a better system for both of these players. I’m not saying they would be dominating right now but it sure as hell would be better then a couple of losing streaks and everyone looking around at each other like uh what should we try next “OH LET’S BENCH gasol and maybe our defense will get better?!…. -_-…

Keep the ball moving, inside out…give Howard & Gasol the ball,TAKEAWAY the ball from KOBE, make Kobe doing something more affection thing and not score 30 point with 30 attempt. If u need two $19 million big men to score 10+ point and 20 rebound…yes watch Lakers now…before trade period end, trade or buy another point guide. Lakers point guide make NBA point guide feel like Start when play Lakers…And lastly Lakers manager/Owner…this is your bad decision take in D’Antoni as coach…another bad decision….

i was wondering what was the idea of management when they fire MB, and get MD’Antoni, what a result now, its more fun watching MB coaching than this guy who is just seating there and u sense that his mind is not in the game,..c’mon Lakers bosses, fire this man and get some new breed of coach who can make things better for your team,..it isnt over…

First of all, don’t start blaming the systems. Most of the people posting above have realized this.

Simple things to take into consideration.

1) D’Antoni isn’t the right coach for the lakers roster. One can agree. Need young legs for that. Think back to Phoenix.
2) Gasol has turned into a jump shooter. (My personal belief is that he’s the most skilled big man in the nba, if he starts lifting weights and posting up + playing with energy, think back to him destroying the Celtics in the finals) Lakers will win.
3) Lakers still don’t have a decent back up for each position. They need high energy players like Ariza and Brown.
4) Kobe should stop taking jump shots, he can take anyone 1 on 1.
5) Howard needs to be a freak of nature. Superman? Give me a break. He’s more like wonder woman.

The reason Kobe takes so many jumpshots is because he’s past his prime and can’t drive or dunk like he used to. It’s not by choice; it’s that Kobe has no choice. Plus, he has poor work ethic (wasting time watching some prehistoric game and tweeting about it). He’s finding out the hard way that he’s no longer quick enough, so he is FORCED to hoist up so many forced jumpshots.

CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE WON BECAUSE A COACH RUNS A SYSTEM THAT FITS THE PLAYERS, OR YOU GET PLAYERS TO RUN A SYSTEM…

THE CURRENT SITUATION OF THE LAKERS IS SIMPLY THE OPPOSITE…THE PLAYERS CAME FIRST. SO YOU HAVE TO HIRE A COACH THAT CAN IMPLEMENT A SYSTEM TO MAXIMIZE THE TALENT OF THE PLAYERS.

JIM BUSS HIRED THE WRONG COACH . D ANTONI IS NOT A BAD COACH, JUST THE WRONG COACH BECAUSE HIS
SYTEM DOES NOT FIT THE TALENT. A RUN AND GUN SYSTEM WITH 2 7FOOTERS AND AGING PLAYERS…COMMON…LETS NOT COMPLICATE MATTERS…BASKETBALL IS SIMPLE.

SHOWTIME LAKERS THEN HAD A STILL YOUNG MAGIC, BYRON SCOTT, WORTHY AND AC GREEN…ALL CAPABLE OF RUNNING. PHOENIX HAD A YOUNGER NASH, JOE J, AMARE, BARBOSA, DIAW, …

SLOW DOWN THE GAME AND THE LAKERS WILL WIN MORE GAMES… AM SURE STEVE NASH LIKES TO SLOW THINGS DOWN NOW THAT HE IS 38

Come on lakers, stop complaining about this and that and start working as a team and wanting to win every night and stop worrying about what players you have and what coches you have and just work with what you have and stop trading all the time, success will come will time and hard dececation to improving as players and teammates… Just like Larry Bird did

The system by D Antoni doesnt fit his players. simple as that. He is trying to put a run and gun team with 2 seven footers and the other 2 (kobe and nash) already nearing the end of their careers.

SLOW THE GAME DOWN…IT IS VERY SIMPLE LOGIC. YOU HAVE GREAT INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS WHO CAN SCORE ANYTIME. IF YOU LOOK AT THE GAMES, THE LAKERS LOOSE BECAUSE THEY ARE SIMPLY OUTRUN BY OPPONENTS. SLOW THE GAME AND THE LAKERS WILL BE BETTER BOTH ON OFFENSE AND DEFENSE.

D ANTONI DONT FORCE A SYSTEM YOUR PLAYERS CANNOT PHYSICALLY DO ON A CONSISTENT BASIS.

JESUS CHRIST…I CAN’T FATOM WHY THIS IS HAPPENING TO THE LAKERS…IT DOES NOT TAKE A GENIUS TO FIGURE OUT THEIR PROBLEMS…

This is happening to the Lakers because Jimmy Buss cant man up to his mistakes, his favorite son ego wont allow it. He can fix this but it will cost him. That’s the price you pay when you make bad business decisions. The longer he waits, the worse it gets for the Lakers.

TOO MUCH ACQUISITIONS OF ALL STAR QUALITY PLAYERS!!! thats the main problem!!! too much salary!!! and what happened? they acquired lowly reserves to maintain the salary cap of ALL STAR PLAYERS…A team needs to be balanced in order to win.. too much of finding a better coach! pointing fingers??? BLAME THE LAKERS MANAGEMENT….

You can kinda blame it on the coach but you really have to blame the players too. The coach’s job is to give direction where it is needed, but he isn’t the one PLAYING the game. Jordan didn’t need a coach to tell him how to score, or how to defend, or how to anticipate ball movement, he worked on it as a player. When you see sombody fall asleep on D and give a lazy contest, thats ALL on the player. When you see Howard constantly being denied the ball, because he can’t find the right positioning, or when the ball handler can’t find the right angle to feed it to him, thats all on the players.

They don’t need D’antoni to tell them how to play basic basketball, if they are as great players as they are supposed to be, they should have figured out how to play together a long time ago. The coach can’t MAKE the players gel together. They need to be able to do that themselves, and then the coach can work on fine tuning the machinery.

Just because the system doesn’t utilize more than 1 big guy, doesn’t mean the Gasol should be standing around on the paint – he should still be looking for cracks in the defense where he can get in a position to score, if he’s open Nash will find him, system be damned.

If Kobe would quit ballhoging and stop taking bad percentage jumpshots and turning the ball over 5 times a game the Lakers would be fine with feeding their big guys and getting the high percentage shot. Kobe is too slow on Defense and too slow to take the ball to the basket so he keeps jacking up long jumpshots that are very bad for the Lakers.

It’s not that they dont want to learn the new system, they don’t believe in the system because they know it will not lead to a championship run. Furthermore, DAntoni is trying to transform veteran players like they were fresh out of college. He is trying to turn a 7 footer into a 3 point shooter. WTF. No one is buying into this madness, specially not the players, their demeaner on the court says it all..

Sorry Lakers fans like me, i think this year is not so lucky for our favorite team. The management messed up and so the players. The best thing we could do now is to accept it and say, LET GO LA!…LET GO LA! Anyway, let’s shift our focus to the brighter side of LA. It may not be the Lakers now but the CLIPPERS.

….that’s right….when the going gets tough……Shift Allegiances ………. that’s a REAL fan now isn’t it…………. BUT is is prevalent in sports by fans who just watch TV…… just follow the hype and be a FAN of your ‘former’ rival……..LOL funny ….gotta love those die-hard laker fans!!

the stats show that Gasol is a better player than Howard..also with Phil as coach they didn’t have that problem with two big men..Gasol was effective with Bynum..so wise up Jim Buss..fire Antoni cause he doesn’t know how to use the big men…he’s a stupid coach..get Jackson back cause he knows how to coach a super team like what they have now…also trade Howard..yeah he doesn’t look happy, always fumbling the ball, can’t shoot free throws..can’t shoot a decent sky-hook.. what a waste..can’t play with Gasol nor Kobe..take alook at the past and look at the stats about Gasol when Phil was coach!!!!! wise-up Lakers!!!!!!!!!!!

well D’antoni finally did something right. they sat Gasol on the bench now. that is the first step in the right direction for postive change. now trade Howard, make Kobe and Nash retire and get some young blood to run the court so they can keep up with OKC and the Clippers.

It’s interesting how there’s no reference to the fact that, according to the stats, the team seems to work better with Gasol rather than Howard. I mean +2.2 net rtg, and +61 in 329 min with Gasol, +83 in 736 min with Howard.

I deff expected more from D12 when he got in. He’s getting whacked @ every ball he gets on the block… Strip him is Turnover or foul him… its all good! Why put him there where Pau can be much more effective… It’s to easy for opponents to defend Dwight. In that kind of sense i can think why Mike D puts him on center for the second unit… But it still feels horrible wrong.

I’ve been looking @ Pau (mostly when his knees where bad) and wondering where his spark has gone. I think he showed some good signs when D12 got ejected the other day. This guy has got the Lakers to the finals 3 times in a row and now he hasnt been getting much chances @ the box to get them there again… I used to hear Stu Lantz beautifully describe these Pau Gasol post moves in slomotion by the Carls Jr cam… Finish with finesse both left and right… But have seen it only a few times… I really miss that!

And even if you get 3pt shooting. You think D12 or Gasol will be happy with that? Should we Laker fans be happy with that?

Lakerland is into some deep water right now… And It will be very painfull for me to see Pau being traded. I still believe in his skills!

Pau is a proven winner, clearly he is not the problem. The Lakers were winning until poor coach hiring by Jimmy Buss. Having 2 big men was the Lakers advantage over the whole league, no one could contend with their size, all of a sudden with DAntoni in town it has become a problem. If money is the issue now, hopefully Jimmy has learned his lesson, think business first and leave your personal feelings out.

need to feed these BIG 2 more! Give them more touches! These BIG 2 should also OWN THE PAINT in both sides of the court! HOWARD to gear up the intensity and GASOL to be solid!!! the keyword for these BIGS are to “OWN”. They haven’t shown much OWNERSHIP in their respective games!!!

Trade Pau for Josh Smith. He can play defense and rebound like no other in the league, not to mention extemely athletic! Not only would he better fit, but he would be with his best friend d12. This will instantly inspire Dwight to play better basketball.

D. Howard should be sent down to the D league to learn the fundamentals. A good trade for Howard would be M. Gortat of the Sun. Howard is not creating the 2 on 1 with Nash because he is not setting up P&R properly and I can bet you it is bothering Nash and at the end the whole team will suffer. Iverson would do a much better job playing behind Nash than what the Lakers is dressing up.

Grizzlies aren’t stupid enough to break up Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol for Dwight Howard. Marc Gasol fits perfectly with them, he is a good playmaker in the post, perfect for Randolph and he doesn’t score much, so let Randolph post up and shoot and you get the boards.

Just get ready for your summer vacation ‘yourlatown’…… enjoy the spring and summer off for a change instead of all that drama just to lose AGAIN in the playoffs…… your gonna have to face it sooner or later…… LaLa boys time has come and GONE !!! It is the new blood in the NBA that will rule the future Not the old guard franchises of the recent and distant past ! No one in the league can just go out and buy a team like beantown did and the heaters and of course…always the lakers…… the new CBA makes it to tough/expensive. All of the great players will bolt when they see how much dough another team can give them .

never shouldve fired Mike Brown. There are no chemistry problems, D’Antoni is the problem. Everyone used to say that Carmelo and Amar’e cannot play together, but thats because D’Antoni forces his system, even if his personnel do not fit his system. Carmelo is playing at an MVP level and Amar’e is quickly getting back to playing at an All-Star level of play, while the Knicks are still playing well. Again, we look at the Lakers, D’Antoni is trying to make Gasol into a perimeter shooter when he is not one. Now he is trying to shop Gasol so that he can get a shooter to fit his system. The D’Antoni system does not win championships! The best Phoenix team in recent years was coached by Alvin Gentry the year the Suns and Lakers met in the Western Finals. Knicks never made it out of the first round with D’Antoni, and the Lakers are at risk of not making the playoffs with D’Antoni at the helm. This is not a pro-Phil Jackson rant, the guy is done, this is a pro-Mike Brown, even Bernie Bickerstaff rant. Get D’Antoni out of LA PLEASE!!!

Carmelo/Amare are 1/2 court players, that have to have someone else to get them their shots. Defense they are NOT! Amare was only as good as Steve Nash made him, through the “pic&roll! Like Amare, but he is NO good on the offensive boards and Caremllo, well he cannot get in the hunt, because he fouls out! Only Good Shooters!!

Not the top scorer anymore, KD is now, Kobe killed his scoring title chances by shoot terribly from the field. KD shot terrible the last two but he made it up from the FT line going 21/21 against Dallas and 19/20 against Denver.

….so how does a team win a championship with an over-rated big who ‘thinks’ he is the best player in the league(and has some fans believing it too) that has NO go to shot and CANNOT shoot free throws?? He is just a slam dunk machine and rebounder because he’s talllllllllllll……. very little REAL talent…..lakers should have known this …….. I think they just wanted the big headlines …..like “We signed the ‘hot dog’ free agent ’cause we ARE the lakers and we buy Anything we want!! PS: #12 is NOT that good of a “pick ‘n roll” player either!!! Good luck with your next Buying Binge, hollywood boys !!!! LOL

The Lakers ALREADY helped the Celtics (at least for this season). HOW???

They traded Andrew Bynum to the 76ers which was supposed to be key to helping the 76ers get back to the playoffs; however, since Bynum still hasn’t played at all this season, Boston is a 100% absolute LOCK. The Celtics (no matter what their record is once the season is over) WILL be in the playoffs, at least. Thank Bynum and the Lakers for ensuring a guaranteed playoff spot (even if it is seed #7 or #8) for the Celtics. After the top 8 seeds in the Eastern Conference, the East is extremely shallow. Philly, along with those non-playoff seeds in the East, have 0% chance to make this year’s playoffs. Celtics can now put it on “cruise control.” They can just stay healthy and go through the motions until the playoffs start. They can gear up for the playoffs like they did last season. In a 7-game series, the Celtics could still be tough to beat.

Too bad, however, that Philly is the one that suffers from all this mess (CREATED by the LA Lakers in the first place). For some reason, Bynum thinks it’s “special” to wear that goofy-looking drama-queen purple and yellow uniform colors. I can see partly Bynum just doesn’t want to play for the 76ers. Sad. Lakers screwed over the 76ers. Now, NO ONE will want to really do any major trades with the Lakers ever again. Other teams know that getting Pau Gasol is the same old story again — they would be getting damaged goods, a player that won’t play well because he only wants to play mainly for the Lakers. Sad. There’s nothing special about playing for the Lakers, at least no more important than any other city.

It’s so obvious that d12 and dantoni are the problems. D Antoni is the worst coach ever. He cannot even get this much talent to play together and at least be a .500 team. Dwight is also to blame because he has a bad attitude and is playing uninspired basketball. They need to trade d12 and get back two franchise worthy players at any positon. And to think that they would have gotten Lowry, scola and Martin last year for Pau and Blake.

Mike D’Antoni has screwed the LAL from the playoffs.
Mike D’Antoni had the same talent a year ago in New York and what happen??…HE GOT FIRED!!
LAL please don’t blame the players, blame the coach and rest of the staff because you screwed the team from having the BEST COACH OF ALL TIME….MR. PHIL JACKSON!!

How much more proof does Jimmy B need to see that DAntoni is not the man for this job.
DAntoni couldnt get to the finals in Phoenix with Nash and Amare in their prime,
He couldnt make it work in NY with Melo and Amare plus decent supporting cast,
He has brought that same mentality to LA and has driven an allstar team straight to the ground,
The Lakers showed more life with Bernie Bickerstaff for the amount of time he was in charge,
What else? Oh yeah, a system with no defense=A guaranteed loser.

Mike D’Antoni did not call the Lakers, Lakers got in thouch with Mike! Mike should have looked at what he had to work with and said NO! However, Howard had not been signed for the “one year deal”, may be a big mistake for HOWARD! Who is shopping for a Center that is NOT producing? 2nd team and no ring? Soon Howard will have a bad reputation and down will go the big body and nice smile young man. SAD! Need HELP!

The proof is in the pudding. Gasol and Bynum playing for the Lakers equaled a championship team and championship contender. Gasol and Howard playing for the Lakers is starting to look like it equals a lottery team.

All things being equal it looks like the factor here is D’Antnoi’s. If it is not his system, it is his inability to utilize his pieces to achieve victory. Very bad coaching.

Absolutely agree : impossible to let play both players and by the same way let Nash running the offense like he did in Phoenix. Seems unfortunately Gasol will soon be traded if LA wants to pretend for another title… Josh Smith could be a good deal with Kyle Korver or Adam Morrow (LA needs more 3pt-threat) for Gasol and Jamison… But it would be soooo sad for Pau : he doesn’t deserve to be traded / benched : he’s more talented than D-12 !

Why does everyone automatically point at Gasol? Gasol has won the championship twice with Kobe and Howard hasn’t ever won (one finals appearance). Howard has one year left (this year) and let’s face it, if Howard stays with LAL, that would be the biggest shocker of the year. Trade Howard, get something half decent and move on. If you trade Gasol, next year you’ll have no Howard and no Gasol. That doesn;t make a lot of sense to me.

i keep hearing arguments from various hoop blogs on how two bigs cant work off low post in today’s game. BULLPUCKY i say. Bynum and Pau were a force. This is just bad coaching from D Antoni….a bad coach to begin with……AND players who seem to have given up. Which is an interesting topic.

Yes, those two bigs were scary to face up against and, under jackson, they both played well together.

DAntoni’s system has them playing high picknroll at the top of the arch, with the roller cutting straight down the center of the key. Phil’s system had them always playing 3 men on a strong side wing and always one big on the weak side.

My thought is DAntonis system, running through the center of the arch/key causes the other big to need to play further out on the weak side arch than in Phils system since Phils offense was isolated to one side of the court instead of in the center. Hence we see pau taking long jumpers and few post ups.

FIRE MIKE D PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DON’T BE AFRAID OF LOSING MORE MONEY. LEARN FROM THE MISTAKE AND DONT WASTE ANOTHER SEASON NEXT YEAR. GET PHIL JACKSON BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why does everyone keep talking about Laker offense? It’s the defense that needs to be fixed. And they should trade pau and get some fresh legs. he’s soft inside anyways. Or play metta at the 4 and clark at 3. Do something besides keep losing!!!!